Experts at Frommer's have compiled lists ranking the best travel websites for consumers, and they have pronounced Booking.com the top hotel booking site and Momondo the leader for finding the best airfares.
For the lists, experts at the travel guide took airfare and hotel booking sites for multiple rounds of test spins, looking for the strongest performers in pricing, most useful results and best user experience.
The results showed that big brands like Expedia, Travelocity and Trivago fell short compared to smaller, underdog rivals like Agoda.com for hotels, and Skyscanner for airfare.
In the category of hotels, Booking.com "smokes the competition" when it comes to the number of lodgings consumers can choose from that are under $200, located in the city center, says Frommer's.
In addition to finding twice the number of properties than any other online travel agency, Booking.com also outperforms the competition when it comes to posting the lowest hotel rates.
Likewise, whereas other sites bury additional fees in the fine print, Booking.com scored points with the experts for posting rates to include taxes.
In fact, the site returned the best rates 16 out of 20 times.
Frommer's points out in a "non-disclosure, disclosure" that Booking.com is the brand's hotel partner, but says the results are unrelated to the partnership.
One of Booking.com's shortcomings, for instance, includes the lack of the "nearby" filter, which is useful for finding hotels near tourist attractions.
In the airline category, Frommer's praised Momondo.com for being "hands down, the best place to find the cheapest airfares every single time."
In their 25 search scenarios, the aggregator found the lowest price 16 times.
Along with the cheapest, quickest and best overall results, experts liked the calendar graph that shows averages for long-range periods.
Likewise, the site doesn't track consumers' search history with cookies, which means it can't raise prices when searching for the same trip twice.
Cons? Momondo lacks a few "bells and whistles" that can be found on Skyscanner and Google.com/flights, says Frommer's. And search results may also include smaller, unfamiliar outlets.
Here are the top 10 hotel booking sites according to Frommer's:
1. Booking.com
2. Agoda.com
3. Priceline.com
4. HotelsCombined.com
5. Hotwire
6. Expedia/Travelocity/Orbitz
7. Kayak
8. Hotels.com
9. Trivago
10. Hostelz.com
Top 10 airfare booking sites:
1. Momondo
2. Skyscanner
3. Google.com/flights
4. Kayak
5. Hipmunk
6. CheapOAir.com
7. Seatguru
8. Hotwire
9. Expedia/Travelocity/Orbitz
10. Priceline
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